Agriculture
What’s new in Farmer’s Weekly?─── ELSABÉ RICHARD 05:00 Fri, 20 Jan 2023
This week Farmer’s Weekly takes a look at the ongoing drought in the Cape.
The editor of Farmer’s Weekly, Janine Ryan, shares that the levels of storage dams in the Western Cape are declining rapidly. This is while dams supplying water to the southern parts of the Eastern Cape remain at critically low levels.
An independent agricultural meteorologist, Johan van den Berg, adds that the average level of storage dams in the Western Cape had dropped below 60% by the first week of January, compared to levels close to 80% during the same period in 2022.
During the same time, the level of the Theewaterskloof Dam stood at about 64% capacity, which was about 30% lower than that of 2022. Also, the Clanwilliam Dam’s level stood at 56% compared with 92% last year. Ryan says this is a concern because levels are dropping about 4% each week.
Van den Berg says at this rate, the mentioned dams could be empty by the end of March 2023.
LEES OOK: Damme in Sentraal-Suid-Afrika tussen 99% en 110% vol
Farmer’s Weekly also takes a look at mounting delays at Chinese ports as the country experiences a surge in Covid-19 cases.
Ryan says exporters to China were given a glimmer of hope in 2022 after China scrapped its zero-Covid policy and resumed the importation of goods. However, this hope was rapidly dimmed as positive Covid-19 cases increased and logistics were put on hold.
Local agricultural role players say that South Africa’s export industry had been eagerly awaiting the reopening of the Chinese economy due to the significant role it played in the uptake of South African crops.
ALSO READ: China changes definition of Covid deaths as cases surge
In 2022, exports of macadamia, grapes, pears and citrus were severely affected by lockdowns in China.
The Manager of fruits at the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz), Wolfe Braude, says as China aims to build herd immunity to Covid-19, it was expected that many key service personnel would be absent as the virus spread. He adds that since infection rates would be staggered, it is impossible to determine when ports would be fully operational again.
